The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century

Description

The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century by Thomas Henry Huxley is an extraordinary book about the history of science as it was seen by a scientist. Huxley was not only a self-taught, but prominent biologist – he was also one of the followers of Darwin (hence his nickname, Darwin’s Bulldog). He taught himself not only about various branches of science, but also about religion and humanities, acquiring impressive knowledge that he used in his books as well as in the public debates he took part in.

The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century impresses not only with the amount of scientific knowledge the author demonstrates, but also with the engaging style and the easy to follow and thoroughly grounded thread of arguments. In the book, he proposes to prove that the half century before his book was published in 1887 was extremely productive from a scientific point of view, with more achievements and discoveries than ever before in the history of mankind.

To prove his point, Huxley offers a brief presentation of the history of science from the ancient Greeks up to Huxley’s present, enumerating major discoveries and analyzing them in terms of their usefulness and availability for the masses. Huxley dedicates the bigger part of his book to the discoveries of the second half of the 19th centuries that shaped the world at the time. He speaks about discoveries in numerous fields from spectroscopy to biology, from other branches of physics to biology and medical science. The quick-paced development in science goes hand in hand with the increase in industrial production and the resulting improvements in living standards.

Huxley draws his own conclusions, too, making predictions about the direction of scientific development – predictions that are very interesting to read about and to analyze in terms of what became reality and what remained only speculation.
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